Stackhouse’s 10 Weekend Thoughts

2 – MAKING SENSE OF THE NUMBERS – The TV numbers that I’ve uncovered would indicate an average of 674,000 viewers per game back in 2012. In 2024, that average was 450,000 and CFL TV viewership numbers decreased 6% year over year. But, the networks and streaming services are falling over themselves to, basically, double the value of the last TV contract? I think we need to hear from TSN and DAZN as to why they feel the CFL product is worth $83-million a year as opposed to the current deal that’s at $50-million…but remember even that $50-million deal signed in 2019 is merely a number pulled from somewhere by someone but has never ever been confirmed by the league or TSN.  

3 – WILL THIS ATTRACT FANS – Overall game attendance in 2015 was just over 2.0 million people. Overall game attendance in 2025 was 1.86 million so there is a decrease in overall interest. Even if I’m wrong on the dollars being bandied about, how can the CFL expect to increase the number of people interested in their game when 25% of the games are on a streaming service that, frankly, not that many people have? Yes, the diehard NFLers have it and they are already CFL fans, in all likelihood. My question is how are you going to attract new ones?  I am all for getting a streaming service contract, but the public appetite is that they are streamed out. There isn’t much left on a lot of household budgets when you factor in Crave, Netflix, Prime, Disney+, TSN+, and Sportsnet Now. I think had the CFL just given 100% of their games to Prime (for example), there would have been endless whining from the fan base but it would have been easy to convince me this is a good deal. Streaming is the way of the future, and there is no guarantee TSN is even going to be around at the end of the six year contract in its current form. To me, it’s a good deal for Prime because if you want to watch the Grey Cup, you will subscribe whether you are grumpy about it or not.  

4 – ALL ABOUT THE CASH – At the end of the day, this is about money. If the $500-million figure is, in fact, accurate they should rename the league after the current Commissioner. The league has the money even if not a single, solitary person buys a DAZN membership (and I will not be buying it as they bamboozled me into subscribing for an extra year when I didn’t want it about seven years ago so I’m out on anything DAZN). At the end of the six years, the league can simply blame low numbers (if they are low) on an obscure streaming company and then go after a more prominent one. As I mentioned above, there’s also the chance TSN will look drastically different in six years and maybe they are a streaming only company and will need the CFL content to remain relevant and will be willing to pony up big again at the end of the contract. Either way, it’s nothing the CFL has to worry about for over half a decade so if the $500-million number is legit, it’s a huge win for the league. I still think it’s a huge loss for the fans (especially when the casuals realize they are missing out on two playoff games), but since when has any professional league really ever cared about fans? You can’t blame the CFL for chasing the dollar, every league does it.

5 – VOICE/FACE OF CFL ON DAZN – This will come off like sucking up because this is his blog, but there is only one choice to be the CFL play by play voice on DAZN and it’s Rod Pedersen. Rod’s league knowledge is unrivaled and his ability to call a Canadian football game is far and away better than anyone else currently doing it (either network or team affiliated). Credibility for DAZN would be instant. The only question, in my mind, is whether or not Rod wants to do it. I have no inside knowledge on what Rod is thinking. We exchange pleasantries weekly and every so often will discuss certain issues but to suggest it goes beyond 8-10 messages would be a lie. If Rod doesn’t want to be in a different Canadian city every Saturday, perhaps he can be talked into doing the hosting job from a central location instead.  

6 – WIN FOR THE MAMBA – The Saskatoon Mamba tried to lose on Friday night but they managed to survive a Winnipeg comeback and hold on for a 100-98 win in what the team tried to market as their ‘home opener’ despite playing their first home game at 10:30 in the morning a couple of weeks ago. The victory improves the team’s mark to 1-and-4 and the addition of big man Jaden Bediako to the lineup resulted in Bediako bringing down 10-rebounds and adding an element that the team has been sorely lacking through the first four games (all of which were losses).  Attendance on Friday was just over 1900, which I will expand on.

7 – NOT A RECIPE FOR INTEREST – I have been a 3-pack ticket holder for the last three seasons for the Saskatchewan Rattlers.  Every Spring I would get a call from an agent ensuring that I was going to renew or purchase a bigger package.  This year, no calls.  I shouldn’t be surprised as the team has signalled with their name change from Saskatchewan to Saskatoon that they really aren’t all that interested in non-Saskatoon people as fans.  Secondly, bouncing back and forth from Sasktel Centre to Merlis Belsher for home games is a recipe for disaster.  Yes, your diehards are going to know where to go when they get a ticket, but your 1-2 game a year fans only stand to be confused.  The trump card that would allow them to get away with ignoring non-Saskatoon fans or play their games on the street in front of Midtown Plaza if they want would be if they can win consistently and they haven’t been able to do that through the early going.  I have concerns about the long-term viability of this team but I’ve come to love watching the league during the summer and it would be a shame if we couldn’t support professional basketball in this province.

8 – STANLEY CUP FINAL – Kudos to you if you are still following the NHL as we finally hit the championship round featuring hockey hotbeds Carolina and Vegas. The Calgary Flames won their only Stanley Cup on May 25, 1989. A lot of people may remember the triple OT game one winner Petr Klima scored one year later against Boston in game one of the league final. That was on May 15. It’s just my way of saying the season is way too long and unless my favorite team is involved I’m basically out on the NHL after round one. For what it’s worth, I predict Vegas wins it in six but there’s no way I would cheer for them unless they were playing Toronto or Montreal. 

9 – MANZIEL/MENERY – I totally missed Johnny Manziel making his MMA debut by scoring a TKO over social media personality/podcaster Bob Menery. Menery, as you may or may not know, is most famous for doing expletive laden play by play commentary as a spoof on famous sports video clips. He has not been quite as prominent in my social media feeds for the last couple of years and I forgot about him until I watched this ‘fight’ last weekend. If you missed it, you don’t need to watch. Johnny Football is not going to be signing with the UFC anytime soon.  

10 – CLAUDE LEMIEUX – The single best agitator in NHL history (at least in my lifetime) passed away this week at the age of 60 due to a suspected suicide. Just two days earlier, Claude Lemieux carried the torch for his former Montreal Canadiens during their playoff game against the Carolina Hurricanes. Lemieux, it would seem, had every reason to live. I know a lot of the readers of my column despise me talking about this subject here but if people like Claude Lemieux are in a state of mind that is so bad they don’t want to be here anymore, what does that say about the rest of us who don’t enjoy the same privileges?  I get that we all have ‘our own shit’ to deal with regardless of wealth/fame/etc. but we can’t keep going down these paths. Thirty or forty years ago, suicide wasn’t even a thing. Today, you’d be hard pressed to talk to someone who hasn’t been affected by it.  Governments love to score brownie points talking about all the different supports there are for people but the fact of the matter is we need less people requiring those supports.

(Mike Stackhouse is a freelance writer/broadcaster. Follow him on X/Twitter at @Stack1975)